How To Make A Handmade Charm Bracelet

Making jewelry charms is one of the handmade jewelry basics. Charms are so versatile, you can use them in so many projects – including the classic charm bracelet! It can be as complicated or as simple as you like, and with just a few practice runs, even a beginner will be cranking out charms in no time. That makes this a really great group craft, too. With a group of friends, you can share beads to make charms for yourselves, or swap charms to make friendship charm bracelets!

Supplies needed to make your own handmade charm bracelet:

Beads you love! I love these Big Value color themed kits. You get a whole set of beads with different shapes and textures that are color coordinated for you. I also recommend a nice stopper bead, like these silver heishi spacer beads.

When you make charms, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, you need a stopper bead at the bottom. This will be a small bead with a small hole so that your focal bead doesn’t fall off the bottom of your head pin. You also want to vary your sizes, colors, and shapes of beads you use. Making each charm different is a great way to add variety to your piece – so you want to pick up a coordinated assortment of beads – or, get together with a group of girlfriends for this project! Each person can bring a package of beads they love. You can all make charms, and mix and match at the end of your craft session.

To make a charm for your charm bracelet, thread your beads onto a head pin. Use your round-nosed pliers to make a loop over one side.

Wrap the end of the wire around the pin, under the loop you created and above the beads. After 2-3 wraps, nip off the excess with your wire cutters.

Once you have finished making 8-12 charms, add them to your chain bracelet. Just twist open a jump ring and attach the charms to your chain at regular spacing.

That’s it! I’ve also got a video below to show you in-action how to make your charm bracelet charms.

Making the basic wire-wrapped charms is an essential jewelry making skill. Once you master it, you will find yourself making charms for lots of jewelry projects!

Adrianne is a working wife and mom of 2 kids. She blogs at happyhourprojects.com where the theme is tutorials and recipes that can be made in an hour or less. She started out making jewelry back in the 80′s, and was widely known among 3rd graders as the friendship bracelet queen. Her style has evolved since then, but her passion for creativity has only grown. Adrianne can be found writing, sewing, quilting, baking and crafting with a wide variety of mediums. She enjoys day trips and date nights, and has written several bad first drafts of novels.

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[…] Then using a headpin and two gold beads, I created a little dangling charm. I think that Adrianne did a fabulous job of showing how to make a charm in her post. Head HERE to read how to make a charm, if you don’t already know how. […]